Kumi Naidoo says Mind Your Lanugage!

At the People’s Space at University Kwazulu-Natal on Tuesday Kumi Naidoo, international director of Greenpeace, talked to a small but lucky audience.  In response to a question about the communicating climate change, he said that there are too many policy wonks in climate debate. He went on to make three points that are not new but well worth re-articulating in the context of COP17.

Climate change is difficult to point to in a concrete and powerful way. It is a constant challenge to find visible evidence that would speak in itself.  When we are talking about human rights issues you can show the scars of the victims. But capturing a complex and abstract thing like climate change is more difficult. Not impossible, but difficult.

"There are too many policy wonks in the climate discussion," Naidoo said. This is so also on the side those who want to see policies changed. They too tend to speak most often to speak among themselves. They speak in a language that does not resonate with people’s experience.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the the polluting industries have also polluted many democracies. There is a disproportional amount of corporate money poured into misinformation.  

Tackling the theme of the Durban Peoples Space, Naidoo said that while he appreciated the attempt to frame climate and environmental politics in a social way, more work on alternative and more effective vocaburies is needed. 

"We need to link climate to issues such as peace or security. That is the language that national politicians and business leaders understand. These are the issues they think about -- constantly."